Worries on the stock market Swiss stock market closes the week in the red
The SMI, Switzerland's leading index, closed the week with a significant drop of 4.2 percent. It has fallen every day since Tuesday, after the US stock exchanges were closed on Monday for a public holiday.
06.09.2024, 18:56
SDA
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- The Swiss benchmark index SMI has been on a downward spiral on the stock market for several days now.
- The index ended the week down 4.2 percent.
- Experts see concerns about the US economy as the main reason for the downturn.
Disappointing end to the week for the SMI, Switzerland's leading index: the downward slide that began on Tuesday continued on Friday. In the end, the index fell by 4.2 percent. The mood on the stock markets was depressed above all by concerns about the US economy. These sent stock markets around the world into a tailspin. Even the rather defensive Swiss stock exchange was unable to escape this pull.
After a generally gloomy week, the SMI fell by a further 1.02% to 11,908 points on Friday. It thus fell well below the 12,000-point mark again.
The biggest weekly losses among the SMI stocks were recorded by the Zug-based asset manager Partners Group and the luxury goods group Richemont, which each lost almost 11 percent in value. At Partners Group, disappointing half-year figures were largely responsible for the decline.
Richemont shares suffered from the slowing economy and fears that the weakness in demand might not just be temporary. Competitor Swatch also lost almost eight percent.
Cautious reception to labor market report
The US labor market report on Friday (today), which was eagerly awaited by many investors, also only provided a short-term recovery. Economists spoke of more or less solid data that spoke in favor of the turnaround in interest rates in the USA that investors had been eagerly awaiting.
The report had not confirmed the worst fears that a recession was imminent in the USA, said one trader. The data also pointed to a "soft landing" scenario, whereby the US Federal Reserve is likely to initiate a turnaround in interest rates in just under two weeks with a cut of 25 basis points. However, a cut of 50 basis points is not yet off the table either.
AI concerns weigh on stocks
In addition, local technology stocks were under strong selling pressure throughout the week. In particular, business expectations in the field of artificial intelligence clouded over considerably. AI specialist Nvidia, for example, lost around USD 280 billion in stock market value on Tuesday, which was the biggest daily loss ever for a US company, dragging down the entire sector.
There were also poor figures from US chip company Broadcom on Thursday. The company's shares fell by almost ten percent in the US on Friday.